Page 78 of Worth the Ruin
She collapses.Wrong, wrong, wrong!my mind screams, but the only way out is through. A puddle of blood pools out around Melody’s still form, and more gushes down my own chest, soaking me in seconds. Everyone is screaming now, confusion and terror and heartbreak permeating the air like a storm. I collapse back onto the ground, arms splayed out to my sides.
“Get the fucking doc up here!!” Johnson bellows amid the chaos. Doc’s face comes into view above me as he puts two fingers on my neck to check my pulse. I reach up weakly to clutch at his arm and his lips twitch in amusement. I cough and sticky, wet crimson leaks from the corner of my mouth, down my chin. It tastes like shit.
“We need to get him to the hospital. Now!” Doc yells, looking to the FOSers around him. Someone grabs me beneath my arms, someone else my legs, and then I’m hoisted into the air. My head lolls as they hurry me down the street.
“Mel?” Doc shouts. Johnson crouches by Melody’s side, fingers to her throat, and shakes his head. Gone. Everything about this feels so wrong.
“Damn it. Someone grab the body.”
“You three, get everyone back to their homes and in lockdown! NOW!” Landry yells from behind us. Johnson runs behind us, cradling Melody’s body to his chest. I close my eyes as they rush me to the hospital that won’t do a damn bit of good.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
MELODY
“Austin Traeger is dead,”Wynn’s voice rings out over the gathered crowd a few hours later. “Melody Morales too.” Murmurs ripple through the crowd. I’m listening from my hiding spot in the back of one of the covered trucks not far away, wishing I could peek outside and watch.
“So, by my count, you called me a bitch, a slut,anda whore,” I whisper. Austin smiles at me, tucked in beside me behind the crates of supplies. His shirt is still covered in the fake blood, and though I know damn well that it was all bullshit, the sight still sends a ripple of unease through me. I’d pulled that trigger. I’d shot him. It wasn’t real, but still, the act had felt so fucking wrong it made me physically sick.
Of course, pretending to get shot myself wasn’t all that much fun either. My own shirt is stiff with the dried corn syrup and food coloring concoction.
When I’d first had the insane plan, Austin had been skeptical, but he started to come around when I laid it all out. How we could make blood bags and have them burst to mimic blood spatter; how we could use a rubber bullet in place of the real one—which would hurt like fucking hell, but wouldn’t do any lasting damage—and how I happened to know exactly where a whole stash of them was; how we could even make a capsule that he could break with his teeth that would make it look like he was coughing up blood to really sell the whole thing.
The more we talked about it, I saw the hope start to build inside him. Slowly, at first, but then, he really started to believe that maybe this could work, maybe this was finally the way out. It had made my throat feel thick. All he wanted was to be free of this, to be with me and live in peace after so fucking long of doing anything and everything that was needed of him in order to keep so many people safe. He deserves this. He deserves his happiness.
And I fucking do too. Maybe that’s selfish. I know at this point, almost everyone still breathing has gone through a lot, but I feel like I had more than my fair share. So, yeah, I deserve this second chance at life and peace and love too.
“Technically, I said you acted in a slutty manner. I didn’t directlycallyou one,” Austin says with a smirk, and I snort, rolling my eyes. “I think a deserve an Oscar, honestly.” He reaches out and tucks a strand of hair behind my ear before cradling my cheek with his palm. I turn and kiss the center before lowering it to intertwine our fingers while we wait for Wynn to finish the big finale.
With Traeger dead, those that had never wanted to follow him to begin with would usher in a new era. No more ruling with fear and pain and intimidation. Instead, it would be done with understanding and cooperation, a joint governing body made up of leaders from each settlement that collectively decided what was best for all of Haven. I really think it can work, and I know Austin does too or he never would have thought it was time for him to step down. I know that he would have played that roleuntil it killed him if it was what Haven needed, if it kept everyone safe.
After a lot of talking and a lot of questions, I finally hear the front door open and slam shut. The truck starts and pulls out of The Cove, and I let out a long, slow breath once we’re out on the highway.
“It actually fucking worked,” I say, a little astonished. “I mean, I know there are lots of steps left and things to sort out, but Phase 1: Kill Traegeractually fucking worked, baby.” I grin and Austin chuckles.
“I can’t say that I’ll miss him.”
He sighs heavily, and I swear I can actually see the weight of it lifting from his shoulders finally. The window in the partition between the front of the truck and the covered back slides open and Wynn’s face appears. He grins like a lunatic.
“Ok, that was fucking fun. Batshit crazy, butfun. You really are a couyon, Mel.”
“You were pretty good,” Austin says, inclining his head. “A solid B+.” Wynn and I both laugh.
“Hey, I helped!” Johnson adds from the drivers side, his head popping into view for just a second. I wince when I see his swollen nose, bits of dried blood still crusted above his lip and across his cheek.
“I’m sorry I hit you so hard, I was a little caught up in the moment.”
He waves me off. “All good. I probably deserved it on some cosmic level from all the practical jokes I used to pull back in the day. We’ll call it karma. But come on, have you ever heard a more dramatic performance?Get the fucking doc up here!Fucking classic.”
“Yes, yes, everyone did phenomenal and we should start doing traveling plays all through Haven,” I say with a roll of my eyes.
“Well, you’re technically dead, so that would be weird…Oh, unless we did Hamlet. You could play the ghost of the dad andreallyfreak everyone out.”
I pinch the bridge of my nose, but I can’t actually be annoyed by anything right now. I feel like I’m cloud nine. Higher than fucking cloud nine, the highest of the highs. Even so, I have fun and pretend.
“For the love of God, can we please get back to business?” I beg. Austin chuckles low, rubbing his thumb across my thigh before squeezing it lightly.
“Is Jonah alright? I might have gone a little heavy with a few of the licks out there,” Austin asks, but he rubs his jaw where Jonah clocked him pretty good in return. I’d say they’re even.
